Hi, I’m Nancy! I am always drawn to paintings evoking a sense of emotion. I focus on how I see and how I feel about the world surrounding me. By working impressionistically, I am able to highlight the natural beauty of this world. My paintings do this through color, emotion, creating a connection between humankind and nature, and by giving the viewer a sense of serene tranquility representative of my vision. I enjoy studio paintings where I work on more planned themes, but I also do a lot of plein air, on location painting, when the weather permits. I love both figure and landscape painting on their own or the combination of both.

Artist Bio:

Whenshewas eight years old, Nancy Zhang was fascinated by the little Chinese comic strips withsophisticated drawing of figures and evenattempted to copy some.These early drawings made her parents very proud of her. However, in those years, nobody encouraged her or cared to make art.This was not the priority growing up in a poor family in the countryside of China.

She started taking painting classes several years back from Portland Community College, and it changed her perspective of the world completely. It changed the way she looked around at hersurroundings, such as the trees, clouds, and shadows. She began to notice the details she had never paid attention to and they were everywhere. Now wherever she goes her eyes are just busy observing and learning with a refreshed sense of presence in her surroundings.

She loves painting people and is always fascinated by their world, by their culture, the state of their mind, and by the obvious and unknown. Her paintings also incorporate asian cultural elements. Since she grew up in China she is interested in the Chinese culture and traditions.

Her next project will be a series of paintings inspired by her trip back to her hometown, a village where she grew up in China. Upon her visit she recalls seeing people live and work, and it brought childhood memories back. Memories which seemed so distant, yet still so vivid as if they happened not long ago. With these works she plans to use loose brushstroke and beautiful colors to translate the complex feelings into a series, to reflect the past, and appreciate the present. At the same time, she feels these strong memories, she is amazed by how much the place has changed, and how much technology has improved life. She also observed how people are better off, yet the villagers, especially the older generation, are still doing the laboring work making a minimum wage while they still chat, laugh, gossip and sometime even quarrel.